How microbes could aid the search for extraterrestrial life

In the quest to address fundamental questions about the nature of the universe and the search for extraterrestrial life, space has been an important frontier for human exploration. Microbes, among the earliest forms of life ...

By air, rain and land: How microbes return after a wildfire

The disruption brought by wildfires reaches everything that lives in or near a burning field or forest—including microbes. A better understanding of how microbial communities change and grow after a fire could help researchers ...

A newly identified virus emerges from the deep

The Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth, plunges nearly 11,000 meters at its lowest point on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. Life persists in the deep and cold darkness, and "wherever there's life, you can bet there ...

Microbial influences on fermented beans

Fermented foods are deeply seated in global food culture. Many recipes are highly guarded, passed through generations and shrouded in mystery. The microbial communities that make up fermented foods are often diverse, but ...

SeqCode provides a path to name uncultivated prokaryotes

Most prokaryotes have never been isolated in pure culture and cannot be named under the International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP). However, many studies have described uncultured bacteria and archaea though ...

The spirit of Juneteenth: The freedom to self-determine

To be able to self-determine is to be able to control one's own life and tell one's own story—an ability that people who were enslaved in the U.S. did not legally have before the Emancipation Proclamation (1862) or the ...

How microbes may help mitigate mercury absorption

New research by a team at Pennsylvania State University suggests that microbes in the human gut could be harnessed to help the body absorb useful nutritional metals—like iron, which is critical for red blood cells—and ...

Marine viruses: Submerged players of climate change

While the world has been heavily focused on the usual players of global climate change, like fossil fuels and deforestation, a group of unlikely contenders has emerged from the depths of the ocean—marine viruses. These ...

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